


Tokens Of Affection

by XylophoneCat



Series: Tumblr Prompts [9]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Courtly Love, Knight!Claude, M/M, courtly romance, prince!sid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-05-30 15:59:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15100163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XylophoneCat/pseuds/XylophoneCat
Summary: A quiet moment between a knight and his lord.





	Tokens Of Affection

“Sir Claude, you are going to bake yourself like that.”

“Well then, your highness. I hope I get on with it if you insist on keeping up conversation with me.”

Sidney laughed and deposited himself carefully to the grass, amidst a great deal of clanking of armour. Beside him, Claude had rid himself of his helm and gauntlets, and was dozing in the spring sunshine, the light glinting off his plate in a way that dazzled Sidney’s eyes. A little way away from them came all the clamour of the tournament grounds; the snorting of horses, the shriek of swords being blunted, and the smell of fresh sawdust drifted over to them. Sidney felt that it was a somewhat inappropriate celebration for his sister’s birthday, but Taylor had insisted that she wanted nothing else. And so it was.

Claude cracked an eye open, and regarded Sid with a cool gaze. “Are you not jousting today?” he asked. “Doesn’t it start at noon?”

“I will remind you that you are also jousting,” Sidney said, his tongue poking through his teeth in his amusement. “And am I not allowed to come and see that my favourite knight does not allow himself to roast in his armour?”

Claude snorted, tossed a handful of torn grass in Sidney’s direction. “Favourite knight indeed, we all know that you prefer the company of the Slav.”

Sidney carefully picked a crumpled daisy from the handful of green stalks and rolled it between metal fingers. The bright yellow center winked at him as is spun on its crooked axis. “On the contrary,” he said, trying to tuck the flower carefully into his under-tunic. His gauntlets and breastplate refused to let him do so. “While it is true that Sir Evgeni is a dear friend of mine, I far prefer it when my company uses the French tongue.”

There was a pause, through which Sidney had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from laughing. He watched Claude from the corner of his eye; first the feigned indifference, then the realisation of what Sidney had said, and finally the struggle of whether or not to engage with such a remark.

“What are you doing with that?” he finally sighed, nodding at how Sidney was still holding the daisy he had thrown.

“I was attempting to tuck it into my tunic, but alas,” Sidney said, wiggled his fingers at Claude. “These hands are hampered by the trappings of combat.”

“I see.”

“Perhaps would you mind, with your hands so unencumbered, doing it for me?”

Claude pursed his lips, his gaze fondly despairing at his Prince’s dramatics, but pulled himself up onto his knees anyway. He took the daisy from Sidney, bare fingers brushing along burnished metal.

“Tis just a daisy, Sid,” he said, tugging Sidney forward so that he had room to reach down under his breastplate and secure the flower under the spun woolen cloth. Sid’s skin was already beaded with sweat, though they had done nothing more strenuous than sit in the late morning sun together. “I don’t know why you would want to keep such a thing.”

“Was it not a favour?” Sidney asked, and Claude looked up sharply to meet Sidney’s hazel eyes. They were alight with amusement, but also something much deeper; such an intensity of feeling that Claude found it hard to meet his gaze after long. He dropped his eyes to the line of Sidney’s collar, ran his finger-tips along where wool gave way to skin.

“I did not intend for it to be as such,” he said on a long exhale. “But for you, I suppose it could be.”

“Then it is perfectly fitting,” Sidney smiled. He touched his fingers to the side of Claude’s jaw, a brief, cool press that had Claude wishing that they were in a more private setting. And then Sidney was hauling himself to his feet as the sound of the tourney bell rang out across the grounds. “Wish me luck,” he winked and Claude rolled his eyes.

“The day you need luck will be the day I have half a chance of unseating you,” Claude called at his retreating back. He smiled when Sid threw his head back with laughter, and then gathered up his own scattered armour. “And do not think that such courtly fancies will make me go easy on you.” For while it was true that Sidney was one of the best horsemen in the kingdom, Claude was not going to pass up a chance at taking him down a peg or two.

**Author's Note:**

> On tumblr @fourthlinefic


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